Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/07/2018
Name: billy bar
Subject: Gothic 7am Report
Aspect:
Elevation:
Avalanches:
Weather: It actually cleared soon after the 5:30 reading so all holds the same except a 0.01″ water increase. So the past 24 hours (15 really) saw 11″ new snow with only 0.60″ of water. Snowpack at 26″ now. Wind is starting up but sky has cleared to just partly cloudy as temp. holds at 22ºF but will dip briefly i would think.
Snowpack:
Photos:
Date: 01/07/2018
Drier air is moving in early this morning as the low-pressure trough responsible for last nights snow moves out. It looks like we’re done with snowfall but we could see a few showers lasting through the morning hours along the crest of the Ruby Range. Clouds will be decreasing today with generally moderate northwest winds. Some stronger wind gusts may develop this afternoon. Clearing sky tonight should help with a good drop in low temperatures. A high-pressure ridge is building in for Monday while a low-pressure system drops down the west coast of California and lines up for our next weather system. Developing southwest flow on Monday will bring an increasing temperature trend into Tuesday. We’ll also see increasing moister arriving with that southwest flow on Tuesday as clouds build and our next winter storm arrives. That storm looks to take us through the Tuesday-Wednesday timeframe but we’ll wait to dial in the timing until tomorrow morning. If I had a private jet, I’d ski the fresh pow today, then fly to Calli and surf the low-pressure system, before racing it back to Colorado for the next round of snow. If….
High Temperature: 28
Winds/Direction: 10 to 20/WNW
Sky Cover: Decreasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0 to 2 am
Elkton Snow: 0 to 2 am
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0 to 2 am
Low Temperature: 12
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15/NW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 32
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15/SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/06/2018
Name: Ian Havlick
Subject: Snodgrass BTL Level 1 Avalanche Course Obs
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: 9000-10000
Avalanches:
no avalanche observed
Weather: Overcast skies and flurries intensified to S1-2 snowfall by 1400. Calm conditions, warm temperatures. Total snow accumulation by 1645 was ~1-2″ of relatively dense, moist snow.
Snowpack: Lots of profiles dug, average HS was 40-50cm consisting largely of facets and large grained depth hoar. Found some isolated old wind board, but did not observe any significant cracking or collapsing. Lots of CT and ECT tests produced no propagation or concerning results. dead as a door nail.
Photos:
Location: Paradise Divide Area. Mt Baldy
Date of Observation: 01/05/2018
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Poor Beaten Snowpack
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 11,200-12,800
Avalanches:
Weather: Moderate westerly wind at upper elevation ridgelines. Partly cloudy with mostly high thin clouds.
Snowpack: The poor thing is so beat. The white looking mountains sure look nice from a distance, but up close their snow surfaces sure are variable and worked over by the weather. For this area, low danger travel advice fit perfect and we didn’t really find much of a concern as it relates to potential avalanches, from low angle to very steep slopes. South and southeast slopes have patchy snow coverage. Sunny easterly slopes had warm snow surfaces and small NSF. Shaded easterly slopes and northeasterly to north facing slopes were cold and weak. Again, snow surfaces on all aspects could also be eroded by the wind, or have wind board, or have variable crusts, or be soft form the sun, or protected form everything and soft. Couldn’t really paint a trend as its all just variable and all over the place.
Couldn’t find any Christmas slabs of much concern. A watchful eye is still warranted.
Photos:
This basin wraps from east to north facing slopes. The snowpack down low had the most intact, but still weak, Christmas Slabs. Moving through the terrain those Christmas Slabs were sitting on a variable old snow surface from shallow to rotten to wind-board. Higher in the terrain the snowpack generally thinned and became more weak.
Looking SSW on this ridge. Blown off high on the west side, while the easterly side had lots of variable snow surfaces and wasn’t necessarily “loaded”.
Date: 01/06/2018
High and lower level clouds will increase throughout the morning and into the afternoon as today’s weather maker marches across the Great Basin throughout the day. Estimated arrival time remains on track for snow to start flying mid afternoon and continue into the overnight hours. This digging low pressure tough looks to give the Elk Mountains favorable jet support aloft, reinforcing orographic lift. Snowfall with be accompanied by winds in the 20-30mph range this evening, with favored locations such as Schofield and Kebler Passes lined up for 8-10” of potentially dense snow. This storm then continues to digs into New Mexico tomorrow morning, carrying moisture away, but leaving cold northwest flow in its wake. Another storm looks on track for Tuesday/Wednesday.
High Temperature: 28
Winds/Direction: 5-15/WSW
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0-2 PM
Elkton Snow: 0-2 PM
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0-1″ PM
Low Temperature: 15
Winds/Direction: 10-20/W
Sky Cover: Overcast
Irwin Snow: 7-10″
Elkton Snow: 7-10″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 6-8″
High Temperature: 28
Winds/Direction: 5-15/WNW
Sky Cover: Decreasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0-2″
Elkton Snow: 0-2″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Date: 01/05/2018
Another unseasonably warm day will be on tap as the ridge over the Great Basin begins to flatten and weaken. This morning we have quite an impressive valley inversion with the town of Crested Butte shivering at 1º, compared to mid mountain at CBMR reporting 30º at 6am. Expect some high clouds to move into the area, with another day of strong sunshine ahead of the much anticipated Saturday afternoon disturbance that looks to arrive between 4-6pm. Several models are still fluttering with the expected moisture, potentially 6″ with the 4km WRF showing hues of red meaning double digit accumulations for those typical snow favored areas like Schofield Pass and the Ruby Range. West to northwest winds look to bump into the 40-50mph range with this potential snowfall. The real storm to start getting sweaty palms over is next Wednesday… Stay tuned.
High Temperature: 35
Winds/Direction: 5-15/WSW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Low Temperature: 20
Winds/Direction: 5-15/WNW
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 30
Winds/Direction: 35
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Irwin Snow: 1-3 PM
Elkton Snow: 1-3PM
Friend’s Hut Snow: 1-2″ PM
Date: 01/04/2018
We’ve got another gorgeous day on tap, almost a straight redo of yesterday. Low temperatures were a couple degrees warmer in the valley last night, but almost spot on the same in the alpine. The inversion remains and the slow march of cold air draining towards Gunnison continues.
Tomorrow we’ll see a few more clouds ahead of a storm on track for Saturday night. The weather models still don’t agree on whether this storm will come straight to us, or slide to our North. Stay tuned tomorrow for details on expected snowfall amounts.
High Temperature: 30
Winds/Direction: 5 to 10, Northwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Low Temperature: 15
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, Northwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 30
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, Northwest
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Date: 01/03/2018
The steady march of the west coast high-pressure drums on. We’ll see continued mild and dry conditions until our next chance of precipitation this coming weekend.
Under a strong inversion, the cold air pooled in the valley floor will keep temperatures chilly in the lower Gunnison valley all day, while the alpine will saunter it’s way to near or even above freezing. Expect high thin clouds today, but not much else to say right now. Fat bikers, enjoy!
High Temperature: 30
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, Northwest
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Low Temperature: 15, colder in the valleys
Winds/Direction: 5 to 15, Northwest
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
High Temperature: 30
Winds/Direction: 5 to 10, Northwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/02/2018
Name: Ben Pritchett and Eric Murrow
Subject: Slab no more
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 9,400-11,100′
Avalanches:
Went to check out the three size 2 avalanches that ran in Snodgrass 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bowls during the Christmas cycle.
Weather: cool, clear, nothing to note other than good faceting conditions
Snowpack: Trap doors opening, slabs faceting, couldn’t get anything to budge or crack despite dozens of steep slopes tested.
Photos:
1st bowl debris
1st bowl debris
quick look at layering adjacent to 2nd bowl flank – no slab remains
Looking down 2nd bowl rider’s left flank
2nd bowl debris
no cracking or collapsing while testing adjacent slopes to last week’s natural avalanches
looking up 2nd bowl path. Debris surface had faceted to 4F- to F+ stiffness.
